18 January, 2011

Sunbirds, malachite and collared

Return to October November last year. There were young sunbirds. We have two obvious sorts. The large green ones are the malachite sunbirds. Striking for two reasons. First they are twice as big, 24 cm, as their smaller 12-14 cm cousins. Then they go for the shimmering malachite green all over.

Malachite sunbird

Malachite sunbird on Melianthus

Malachite is the banded stone containing copper. Think of the bluey-green of verdigris. When we had our white metal garden furniture repainted we chose ‘verdigreen’, vaguely turquoise. The string of beads comes from Zaire. From Vicky whose family lived there. In earlier days, her grandparents had fled the Belgian Congo. Her grandfather was an artist, worked for our Department of Nature Conservation. There is a poster/billboard we still see. Bokkie the grysbok, with a devastated landscape smouldering behind him. Mediterranean climate bloggers can paint their own picture with their wide eyed ‘grysbok’ saying Look What You Have Done!
PS The little Bokkie the grysbok book is available at Mowbray library

Malachite beads from Zaire
on a bed of Lamb's ears
Dry shade? But is is TOO HOT!!

Malachite

The littler cousins have the catchy names of (greater and) lesser double-collared sunbirds. This for a bird the same size and ecological niche as humming-birds. Tho ours don’t hover, if they can perch somewhere convenient nearby. She even contrives to perch while bathing, on a fig leaf.

Juvenile sunbird

Juvenile sunbird

The Melianthus or honey-flower, was planted both for these birds to harvest the nectar, and for me to enjoy the glaucous blue-green leaves with their pinking sheared edges.

Juvenile sunbird

Juvenile sunbird

These birds add moths, spiders, larvae, beetles and flies to their nectar diet. The lesser double-collared likes trees and they spend a large part of their day hunting insects in the shade of the ash trees. And chatting to Spirulino, whose cage hangs there.

Juvenile sunbird in the secret garden

This garden is not so disciplined about Planting a Succession of nectar-bearing plants for our little birds. We do have aloes in winter, but the brightest and best, tall spike broke before they could finish it. I see the birds on the pig’s ears Cotyledon orbiculata which grows with joyful exuberance, so that’s good! We have yellow, Jodi’s porange (pink-orange) and red Tecomaria capensis. Scrambling shrubs like Plumbago from the Addo sub-tropical area, expecting to be trashed by a passing herd of elephants, in our garden they need grooming to shape.

Bird info from Joy Frandsen’s Birds of the South Western Cape.

Pictures by Jurg and Diana,

words by Diana of Elephant's Eye- wildlife gardening in Porterville, near Cape Town in South Africa

Diana, Thank you for this wondrous post! I am surrounded by a white landscape with falling snow . . . then suddenly transformed by your beautiful photos of this amazingly beautiful bird! I enjoyed your links too. I love the sunbird bathing in leaf dew or water. I have seen our tiny hummers doing the same thing. Why let it go to waste. Lovely to see the malachite beads along side your Malachite sunbird! Stunning!

Oh, what beautiful birds and colors and photos! I read an article a few months ago about how butterfly wings get their colors - I wonder if something similar is at work in those vivid, iridescent feathers? Gyroids in Butterfly Wings

Those melianthus leaves really do look like someone took pinking shears to them. (Someone should tell them that it's much easier just to zigzag stitch over the edges.) ;)

oh Diana - i mis-read the title and thought it said machette! I was so worried.Malachite is possibly the best colour in the world - gorgeous! I love your bird posts, they are so exotic, so colourful and delicate - lovely post as usual and thank goodness - no violence after all *phew*

More wonderful pictures, thanks so much! I remember watching Malachite Sunbirds at Oudtshoorn, while all my fellow travellers were going down the Kango caves. I think I had the better deal. INteresting that they feed on Melianthus, despite its pungent smell.

Hi Diana, wonderful post, awesome photos - how you get these fast moving birds so clearly is one of life's mysteries to me. Another mystery is how Chocolat doesn't seem to regard all these wondrous birds as potential dinners. She looks very content - maybe you feed her very very regularly and generously? cheers, catmint

Catmint - well the photos are mostly wimping out, and taken when the birds are still. Our sunbirds don't hover as much as hummingbirds do. Mother Nature gave ours plants they can perch on ;~)M'sieur Chocolat sadly DOES catch birds, but less as he grows up/older.

Your bird pictures are always a treat. Would I be right in thinking chocolate is a brown burmese cat. We had one,(Rudi) lived till he was fourteen, died of kidney failure. He is now buried in which was his favourite spot in the garden.

Alistair - we are honoured to be seen in our 'true colours'. Himself is a pavement special, born a feral cat on the empty plot across the road from the house we rented, while building this one. Tiny 'black' kitten chasing crickets at night on a tar road. But he lived to tell the tale, after Henry brought him home to us.

Is choclat behaving well with all these birds around him? I am telling you If I am a cat, I won't. :)

Nice set of pictures there, Diana. I am not sure if it is just me or those text over the photos are distracting me from enjoying the photos. A less obvious watermark might be good. What do you think about that?

Joy Mystic - the obvious watermark is because garden bloggers wage a running battle against scrapers who steal our content. Sometimes the entire post, not just a picture! Hasn't happened to me yet. Those watermarks are staying ;~)